10.26.2016: Neuleiningen - A Town of Wine

After breakfast this morning, I was ready to get out and explore a little.  Vince left early to go to the base with the guys, so I got up early too and headed out.  My first stop of the day was to a little town called Neuleiningen.  I spotted this cute looking little town at the top of a hill as we were driving into Landstuhl yesterday.  I decided I was going to go find it and check it out.  It looked like there were castle ruins up there, but I couldn't tell.

 

I started driving and knew it was wine country, just from the maps and what I could see.  As I got off the freeway, there were tons and tons of vineyards all around.  This was my kind of place!

 

As I got to the bottom of the hill, it was hard to tell how to get up it.  I saw a few roads that looked more like private driveways, but it looked like there was an actual little town up there.  So, I took my chances and picked one!  I headed up the tiny, windy road up the hill.  Once I got to the top, I pulled over to take some pics and was approached by an older man that came out of a house next door.  He was asking questions in German, and I was asking questions in English.  Neither of us understood each other, so we just said hi & bye.  He didn't look super friendly (nor did he ever smile) and it kinda made me feel like I was somewhere I shouldn't be.  So I went on my way.  As I drove thru all the little streets, trying to navigate thru the parked cars on the sides of the road in front of homes, I got lots of strange looks from the locals.  With no cell service here, and Vince having no idea where I was, I started to get a little uneasy about being up here.  I decided it was time I find my way back down the hill and head to my next adventure.

 

(After the fact, I found out that this little town is basically ALL little homegrown wineries.  However nothing was open while I was there because it was sooooo early in the morning.  BUT, on weekends, its a popular little spot for some wine tasting!  Shucks!)

 



Looking up at the top of the hill

Rows & rows of vineyards

Views from my first stop

 

10.25.2016: Road Trip! Headed to Ramstein

After I picked up Vince, we headed north to Ramstein to meet up with the other 2 guys and check into our hotel for the next few days.  Vince is working with the guys here on base, and over at the Army base across the freeway. 

 

On our way up north, we passed by many, many patches of black forest.  Where the forest is so dense, and the trees so tall that when you are in it, it is pitch black, even in the middle of the day.  It is truly pretty incredible, and beautiful!  There is TONS of farmland everywhere. I literally took a ton of pics out the window of the car - acting like a total tourist that had never seen trees before.  Yes, trees - amazing.

 

We drove thru Stuggart on our way, which is a big Army base town/city.  Sutggart is also home to the HUGE Porsche factory.   Not sure how we stumbled up it, but we ended up driving right thru it.  There were about 50 big bldgs where people actually design and build the Porsches.  There is also a big museum. there.  We were actually looking for someplace to eat when we drove thru town and saw that the museum had a restaurant in it...PERFECT!  So we found some parking and went in.  We didn't do the full Porsche tour, as it was pretty crowded and we would have to wait a while for a tour time, so we just opted for food.  It was delicious!!  Bellys full, we are ready to continue our journey over to Ramstein!!

 

We were staying at a cute little hotel called Hotel Rosenhof right across the freeway from the base, but tucked in a little corner where it was surrounded by trees so you felt very secluded.  Everyone there was super friendly all week and we would definitely recommend it and stay there again!



 

10.25.2016: Exploring Munich Solo

This morning we woke up to absolute pouring rain!  Vince and I had breakfast at the hotel, then I dropped him off at the convention center where he was attending a trade show and meeting with the Bavarian Commerce Authority.  He had a few specific meetings scheduled, which I knew would take a few hours. I planned to head into Munich and do some exploring while he was working, as well as find a bank to do some currency exchange.  Since all the banks were closed yesterday, we didn't have a chance to get euros.

 

I headed to what looked like the financial district, and it had a ton of high end shops in it too.  It was too early for most of them to be open, but found a cute cafe that sold some beautiful chocolates that I had to buy (and try).  I found a bank and did my currency exchange...and walked across the street, to stumble upon a statue covered in flowers and signs.  I walked over to check it out and realized that it was a Michael Jackson memorial.  The hotel across the street is one where he stayed in before so when he died, people started bringing memorabilia here, and it has grown and grown since then.  I had heard about it before in my Munich city research, but had no idea where it was and wasn't looking for it.  Pretty unique for sure!!

 

After admiring the scene (and I was the only one there), I took a walk thru a park - Munich is FILLED with city parks!! It was gorgeous, and sprinkling, and breezy and cold.  I LOVED it.  The leaves were a million different colors, and falling as I walked.  I felt like I was in a dream.

 

After a couple hours exploring, I decided I better make my way back out of town to the convention center to pick up Vince.  Next we are headed to Ramstein Air Base to meet up with Mark and Larry!

 

10.24.2016: Italian Dinner in Germany

Once we got back to our hotel, we were starved!!  The hotel we were at (Holiday Inn - Messe) didn't have a ton of dining options near it, surprisingly.  We were near the convention center where Vince was working tomorrow, and the little town across the freeway from it didn't have many dining options.  Lots of local Mom & Pop shops that weren't open this late.  So, we found an Italian place called La Commedia on Yelp that was super close , got great reviews, and was open late, so we  headed there.  We wanted a non-German meal and pizza and wine sounded amazing. 

 

It was a very cute family owned restaurant where everyone spoke Italian.  Not English, and little German.  We actually got by with managing some Italian via Spanish haha!  So we found some wine that looked good and ordered a salad & pizza to share.  To say it was amazing would be an understatement.  My only complaint was they covered the chopped Italian salad with tuna....which I wasn't prepared for (nor craving!)  Oh well - it was more than good!!!

 

10.24.2016: Switzerland Here We Come!

After leaving Markdorf, we started heading towards Lake Constance, which was a bit west.  We didn't have a plan, but wanted to see the lake.  A town on the Germany side of the lake is another big town where a lot of the Riedmans come from.  We had a thought to go there, but then realized how close Switzerland was....so we decided to go there instead!

 

It is amazing how easy it is to cross thru the borders of these countries.  All you do it buy a day pass that lets you into the countries - similar to our national park passes here.  You can buy them at any gas station, and just have to display them on your windshield.  We crossed a river, then drove through what looks like a toll bridge, right into Austria, then a few minutes later into Switzerland.  It was so easy and seamless.  Before we knew it, we were in Switzerland! If we had millions, we would have ran into a bank and opened a Swiss bank account - just because.  Unfortunately the banks were closed today. Maybe on our next trip??

 

We drove along the lake to a cute little town called Rorschach.  It is a blue collar looking town with a ton of railways coming through it. Most of the shops and restaurants were closed today.  We were hoping to find some chocolate or cheese or something very Swiss and fabulous.  No such luck though.  So we walked around and checked out the lakeside paths and walked thru the downtown area.  We decided to head back to Munich before it got too late. 

 

We weren't super impressed with this particular little Swiss city.  The bigger ones were too far away to go for the evening.

Toll Bridge to get into Switzerland

Lake Constance

Headed back to Germany

 

10.24.2016: Beautiful Markdorf

The city of Markdorf is about 20 mins from Taldorf, and is the closest "big" city.  It still wasn't a big city in American terms, but it had a few shops, stores and restaurants.  I found that quite a few Reidmans moved here to live as well.  Maria Riedman, my great-great-great aunt (Melchoirs sister) was born Taldorf also, and moved here to Markdorf after she got married.  She lived here for many years before she moved to America with her 3 remaining children, and its documented that many of her husbands relatives are still living here (with her married name Pfaff). 

 

We didn't really spend time trying to track down specific homes or churches here.  We went to the center of the town and the biggest church there.  It had a very traditional Bavarian look.  We walked around the cute city center, then had lunch.  Most people in these outlying towns don't speak any English at all.  It was fun experimenting with our German s we walked around and ate lunch.  Vince, obviously, knew much more than I did and could get us around pretty well.  The rest we just figured out on our own!  Most people were extremely nice and wanted to help us figure it out, so that was refreshing.